Let’s have a look at the Seattle area’s employment situation.
First up, year-over-year job growth, broken down into a few relevant sectors:
Construction is posting gangbuster gains—up 11.5% year-over-year—as homebuilders attempt to capitalize on the inventory crunch. Finance / Real Estate is posting the smallest gains at just 0.8% year-over-year growth.
Here’s a look at the overall Seattle area unemployment rate compared to the national rate:
Unemployment fell again in Seattle and Washington State from November to December, as it more or less flat-lined nationally. As a result, Washington State’s unemployment rate fell below the national rate for the first time two years. The Seattle area is still outperforming Washington State and the nation as a whole, with December unemployment coming in at 7.8% for the US, 7.6% for Washington, and 6.5% for the Seattle area.
- Seattle Unemployment: Washington State Employment Security Department
- Washington & US Unemployment: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Seasonally adjusted series used for all data sets.
+3-1
Different Data Bases
I found no data base reference for Seattle job growth [includes Dec 2012?], please provide.
I use the United States Government Bureau of Labor Standards (BLS) and I’d add, be careful with real recent data, like Dec 2012, especially if its NOT SEASONALLY ADJUSTED downward. BLS hasn’t even released the Dec 2012 data yet, its too ambiguous.
But let’s compare the BLS data to the charts above…..the Total Labor Force market for Seattle/Bellevue/Everett is decreasing since last Summer, not increasing. At best YOY, its flat. albeit its CLEARLY below the Depressionary 08/09 levels. So in a YOY trending, the last 3-4 years, is degrading, not improving.
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LAUMT53426606?data_tool=XGtable
Obama was at the helm too.
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Lots of jobs flowing into South Lake Union :)
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Also amazon and google are getting ready to hire and open up many offices.
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[...] gain in January to just 5.4% in February, and the over ten percent gains we saw in that sector in the original December data was erased by revised data. With 6% year-over-year growth, the retail sector actually eclipsed [...]
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